Another memorable moment in my FDNY history

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Jun 16, 2010
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After I married and moved to Newark, NJ., I was an active member of the Bell and Siren Club there.  Sorta semi-quasi-unofficially, we members would occasionally be put to work at major jobs.  The canteen crew set up and served, we others would man lines, and do a substantial bit of generally outside firefighting, occasionally inside with the troops of the NFD.  I did this for many years until I moved to suburban Washington, DC, and became a founding member of Prince Georges County's Bowie VFD Company 39.  I graduated from the basic firefighting course at U of Maryland, and completed a number of different advanced pump courses there.  I was very active.

One fine weekend in 1955, my buddy Bill Shotts of Montgomery County's Sandy Spring VFD, Ben Griffin of the Wheaton Rescue Squad and the Friendship Fire Ass'n. and I loaded our gear and drove up to the Big Apple for some weekend buffing action.  We arrived at the Battery and got the tour of the Fighter.  As we were taking up, the bells started to hit in for a second alarm at box 290 in Brooklyn, followed by an immediate third. Off we went.  This job on June 12, 1955 eventually went to a boro call with 4 blocks of heavy industry going.  There was enough fire for everyone.  We suited up and soon found ourselves running a multiversal for a couple of hours in the thick of the action.  As things quieted down, the fire largely under control, we were approached by Ass't Chief of Department Tom Harnett, and he asked us who we were...I pictured us on bread and water for life.  When we told him we were from Washington, he shook hands with each of us, and told us he appreciated our help.  What a warm memory, what a fine gentleman.  What a fire...
 
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Apr 9, 2007
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Liked the story Fire6 and thanks. Please clarify one thing for me please, did you live in Washington DC, Montgomery County, Prince George or all 3 as some point ?
 
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Jun 16, 2010
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Hello Cap,

I lived initially in Rockville, Md., bought a home and lived in Bowie until I was transferred back to NJ in 1973.  I was an active member of the Bowie VFD, the Friendship Fire Ass'n in DC, and the Box 414 Ass'n in Baltimore City.  Upon my return to NJ, I rejoined the Bell and Siren Club until I moved to Israel in 1986.  My son Jeff was also a member while he was in the dorm at New Jersey Institute of Technology, and took in all the jobs he could make, while still maintaining his grade level. He graduated with his engineering degree and after a number of years in the trade, he returned to school for his Masters and is an MS PA, working as a senior trauma PA in a hospital ER.

I still continuously monitor Brooklyn on the computer here to keep my finger on the pulse of what's happening back in the 'Old Country'.
 
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Jul 14, 2007
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I believe that fire at box 290 you referred to was in the area of Varick, Stewart, Johnson, and Morgan Avenues with a railroad line running through it as well as part of Newtown Creek.  My father and two brothers took that fire in; plenty of fire for everybody: lumber yards, train yards, factories, etc.
 
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Jun 22, 2007
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johnd248 said:
I believe that fire at box 290 you referred to was in the area of Varick, Stewart, Johnson, and Morgan Avenues with a railroad line running through it as well as part of Newtown Creek.  My father and two brothers took that fire in; plenty of fire for everybody: lumber yards, train yards, factories, etc.

  If it happened in Brooklyn, "Johnd" knows about it. And we can always count on "G-man" to come through with "additional information on the Box"
 
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